Jayson Tatum’s and Jaylen Brown’s hopes of starting the 2021 NBA All-Star game probably lie in the hands of their peers and the media at this point.
NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner places Brown and Tatum in “tiers” two and three in voting for Eastern Conference backcourt and frontcourt starters, respectively. Brown and Tatum both rank fourth in their respective categories after the first returns, and Aschburner’s analysis of the voting totals leads him to conclude fans won’t push the Boston Celtics stars into the starting lineups.
“Frankly, in the Frontcourt returns, (Kevin) Durant and (LeBron) James are prohibitive favorites to lock up starting spots,” Aschburner wrote. “Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (1,752,185) and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (1,584,028) have sizable early leads as a two-man second tier in the East.
“Boston’s Jayson Tatum is alone on tier three, with 48 percent fewer votes (822,151) than Embiid. Yet Tatum also had 150 percent more votes than No. 5 man Jimmy Butler of the Heat.”
Fans won’t turn against Antetokounmpo, the reigning NBA MVP, and Embiid, an early MVP candidate in 2020-21, so Tatum has little chance of cracking the top three.
Brown also will need a shock surge in fan votes in order to break into the top-three backcourt spots.
“Among the East’s guards, Beal and Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving (1,093,611) and James Harden (1,014,763) are a solid first tier,” Aschburner wrote. “Then it’s Boston’s Jaylen Brown (590,195), Chicago’s Zach LaVine (486,547) and Atlanta’s Trae Young (368,126) on the next level.”
Fan voting opened Jan. 28 and will run through Feb. 16. Fan balloting comprises 50 percent of the votes for NBA All-Star starters. Active players and a selected media panel each will account for 25 percent.
The NBA reportedly hopes to stage the All-Star Game March 7 in Atlanta.
